BOWLIUM

champs Jakob Butturff & Jakob Hilton

        Their ancestry may not be Irish, but Jakob was the lucky name on St. Patrick's day as Mr. Butturff and Mr. Hilton claimed titles in thrilling title matches at Montclair's Bowlium in JBT So Cal action.

        Brooke Martinez, the previous day's champion, began the handicap stepladder finals with a 256-164 drubbing of Julian Zavala.  Against Jerod Walker in the next match,. Brooke appeared to throw the strike she needed for the win, but then finished with 6-1 in the 11th frame to end up in a 215 tie.  Martinez was able to regroup and win the rolloff 32-24 to survive and play her cousin, Jakob Hilton.  Hilton won that game, 221-203, to move on to the title match.

        Top seed Nick Condon had the high game of the day in either division, a 288 scratch (for a whopping 318 handicap), but fellow one-time champ Hilton was tenacious in the title game.  Needing at least 7-spare-strike to win, Condon left the 3-9 in the tenth and couldn't convert, giving the shocked Hilton a 223-212 win, and his second career JBT title.

        Jakob Butturff qualified 4th for the stepladder finals, meaning he'd need to with four games in the treacherous 'endless tenth' format to claim the title.  He began with a 236-211 win over Luke Holley, when Luke couldn't strike on his first bonus shot.  Butturff then stopped Justin Sims 245-173.  This set up a 1-vs-2 match in all-conference points against Cortez Schenck, and it was Butturff who came out on top this time, winning 221-203 to move on to yet another title game.

        Jakob has been making all kinds of history all year, and had a chance to rewrite another section of the record book with a win, but what an opponent he had facing him in top seed Wesley Low.  Much talk has been made of Jakob and Cortez this season, deservedly so, but meanwhile all Wesley has done is win the last three So Cal events in a row (needing this win to tie the all-time mark of four in a row), and then proceeded to put on a clinic here, shooting his third 268 of the day in the final matchplay game to tie our coveted all-time 8-game record at +503.  However, he still had work to do against the confident Butturff, and the resulting title match produced all the drama that the scenario promised.  After some early 9-counts, the strikes started coming from both bowlers, admittedly both in the pocket or not.  After Jakob finished with 250 (and a strike on the fill ball),  Low found a way to get all three in his tenth, giving him a 238 and a chance to throw two bonus strikes to retake the lead.  Wesley got the first hit, but a crushing solid-8 stood on the second, giving Butturff the final 250-248 tally.  It's Jakob's 21st win of his career, and unbelievable 15th of the season, already tying him with Kyle King for the all-time single season record!

      Stephanie Zavala won her first JBT Women's Series event with a 232-217 win over Courtney Schultz.  Bowlers need 3 Womens Series wins to get into the Girls TPC this July.

       Thanks to Scott and Teresa Poddig and the Bowlium crew for a great job hosting us.  Want in on all this fun and excitement?  Come on out to the next JBT event, it's as simple as that!